Youth Sailing World Championships: two golds, one silver and the Nations Trophy for Italy

Two golds, a silver and the prestigious Nations Trophy: from the Youth World Sailing Championships – the maximum event for youth sailing at an international level – the blue team takes home a notable haul, higher than expected, even if in the two previous editions it had won the Nations competition. In the waters of Vilamoura (Portugal), more challenging than expected due to the little wind and generally unstable conditions, our ten crews (only the one from the women’s Kiteboarding class was missing) fought well, in some cases very well. Gold went to Lorenzo Sirena and Alice Dessy (Nacra 15) and Medea Falcioni (female IQFoil) while silver went to Matteo Saoncella (male IQFoil). They were the fundamental building blocks to win the Nations Trophy again with 51 points, clearly separating France and Poland, with 83 and Poland with 99 respectively. The confirmation that at a youth level, Italian sailing is number 1 in the world and this bodes well for the Olympics, if not in 2028 for those of the future. All the great champions have passed through the Youth World Sailing Championships and often ended up on the podium: among the latest we mention Ruggero Tita and Marta Maggetti (both gold medalists at the last Olympics) as well as the genius of the America’s Cup, Ben Ainslie, now at the court of Luna Rossa.

children of art

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A terrible opening regatta did not demotivate the Italian crew in the only multihull class admitted to the Youth World Sailing Championships, indeed Lorenzo Sirena and Alice Dessy won six of the next eleven regattas and took home success in the Nacra 15, a preparatory boat for the Olympic Nacra 17 which gave Italy the double gold of Tita-Banti. Lorenzo, 17 years old, is the son of Max who is the technical director of Luna Rossa: he naturally arrived by boat, following his father who in the Auckland 2021 campaign put him under the Optimist and made him compete against the New Zealand champions. When he returned to Italy he found the right boat in the Nacra 15 and in his contemporary Alice Dessy, from the Cagliari Yacht Club, the ideal bowman. They were among the favorites – having won the class world championship in both 2024 and last July. Also extraordinary was the performance of Medea Marisa Falcioni, a fifteen-year-old talent who runs for SEF Stamura, a club from Ancona. Seven successes in as many regattas for our representative in the women’s IQFoil who in 2025 has found no rivals if it is true that she won both the world title in Brest and the European title in Arzachena. She is aiming without hiding it to qualify for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles: the (possible) challenge with Olympian Marta Maggetti will remain to be followed.

as a laborer to the world

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Well done also to Mattia Saoncella, born in 2009: who grew up on Lake Bracciano, he chose to run for a club in the Garda area of ​​Trentino – the Circolo Surf Torbole – and two months ago he won the IQFoil continental title in Arzachena on a par with Falcioni. He came second, initially threatening the Israeli Peleg Rajuan who then won the title. These are the results of the other Italians: seventh was Julio Houze from Rimini in men’s kiteboarding (where the Swiss Gian Andrea Stragiotti, a Zurich native of clear Italian origins, won the title); Alessandro Cirenei from Garda is tenth (ILCA 6 men); sixth was Marina Murri from Lecce (ILCA 6 women); fourth for the Triestines Giuseppe Montesano and Enrico Coslovich (mixed 29er); seventh for the Garda athletes Bianca Marchesini and Lucia Finato (29th female); 14th for the Triestines Matteo Mioni and Noah Samuel Barbiero (420 mixed); fifth for the Roman sisters Giulia and Flavia Schultze. Behind the sequence of excellent results of our young people there is a very heavy signature: Alessandra Sensini, windsurfing legend (four medals in six Olympics) and now technical director of the Italian youth sector. An ex-athlete who always looks ahead. “We presented a very young team, for most of the athletes it was the first event at this level: for this reason I am really satisfied with the results obtained. We probably could have achieved something more with a more complete program: by knowing our boys better we would have had a better chance of expressing ourselves at our best” was her comment after the awards ceremony. It’s always her.